HOUSTON, June 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Connected, energy-efficient designs require high levels of peripheral integration, lower heat dissipation and longer battery life. To address this, Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) (NYSE:
TXN) today announced four new processors (
TMS320C6742,
TMS320C6746,
TMS320C6748 and
OMAP-L138) with unmatched connectivity options and fixed- and floating-point capabilities that are also the industry's lowest power floating-point digital signal processors (DSPs). For more information:
www.ti.com/omap-l138-prhome

Packed with a unique combination of application-tuned features and peripherals, these devices reduce overall system cost for a wide spectrum of products including industrial, communications, medical diagnostics and audio. For instance, power protection systems benefit from the OMAP-L138 device's fixed/floating-point DSP, ARM9, Ethernet MAC (EMAC) and LCD controller for up to $14 cost reduction compared to current solutions. For applications that need high-speed data transfer and high-capacity storage, such as test and measurement, public safety radios, music effects and intelligent occupancy sensors, the processors feature a universal parallel port (uPP) and are also the first TI devices with an integrated Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA).

With performance levels up to 300 MHz, these products offer the ability to manage on-chip power through dynamic voltage and frequency scaling (DVFS) and multiple power down modes. When coupled with TI power management software and complementary analog solutions, developers can optimize their system for performance and power without having to be an energy expert. To ease and reduce development time, the new offerings are pin-for-pin compatible with each other, code compatible with all TMS320C6000(TM) devices and complemented by a low-cost experimenter board and full-featured
evaluation module (EVM).

-- Dual-core processor that builds on the C6748 DSP with a 300 MHz ARM9
gives developers the flexibility to add intuitive human machine
interfaces, touch screens or networking capability to their applications
-- ARM9 allows developers to implement high-level operating systems, such
as Linux
-- Windows(R) Embedded CE and Integrity(R) support is expected in 4Q09
-- Low power usage with 440mW total power and 15mW in standby mode in use
case scenarios

Development tools for varying levels of expertise:

-- A community-supported $149 experimenter board is available from Logic,
the designer and manufacturer. The board features the OMAP-L138
system-on-module (SOM), 64 MB mDDR, open source Linux, DSP/BIOS(TM)
drivers and can be used to develop on any of the four devices.
-- An OMAP-L138/C6748 EVM from TI is available for those that need full
peripheral access and TI support. The EVM builds on the experimenter
board with an extra C6748 SOM, double the memory (128 MB mDDR) and full
support for connectivity peripherals.

-- An OMAP-L138 (SOM) is a production-ready solution with 128 MB mDDR,
power management and Ethernet PHY. It is available for less than $99 @
10k EAU from Logic (www.logicpd.com).

Pricing and availability

All processors are available for sampling and are priced as follows: TMX320C6742 for $6.70, TMX320C6746 for $13.50, TMX320C6748 for $15.20 and OMAP-L138 for $18.60 (1,000 units).

With an extensive portfolio of low power DSPs, including the lowest standby power DSPs from the C5000 portfolio to the ultra-low power microcontrollers, the lowest power floating-point DSPs and power management solutions in analog, TI continues to lead the market with innovative energy-efficient technology across its entire portfolio.

Find out more about TI's C674x and OMAP-L138 processors by visiting the links below:

Texas Instruments (NYSE:
TXN) helps customers solve problems and develop new electronics that make the world smarter, healthier, safer, greener and more fun. A global semiconductor company, TI innovates through design, sales and manufacturing operations in more than 30 countries. For more information, go to
www.ti.com.

Trademarks

TMS320C6000, C6000 and DSP/BIOS are trademarks of Texas Instruments. All other trademarks and registered trademarks belong to their respective owners.

TI Processors Suffer From Poor Documentation May 12, 2011Reviewed by 'dsp programmer'The following is the opinion of one software developer.TI makes feature rich DSPs. But buyer beware!The problems start when it is time to program the device. Despite filling several shelves, programmers can spend weeks learning the toolsets and searching out the missing details to accomplish routine tasks.The network development kit (NDK) presensts another caveat emptor. The NDK images are large. The manuals mention the possibility of omitting some components, but just try to find out to do it.The on chip boot loader does not support emac, and none is provided for SPI connected flash.Summing up, the C674x may be a great chip. But software documentation drops the ball, despite the page count. As a result, the schedule and cost risksm can be significant.